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Topic: Age Groups of Our Hobby (Read 15760 times)

For everybody worried about their cars losing their value you should sell now. I think they are losing every day anyway. I never liked what ďnvestors did to my hobby, they ruined it. I hope the prices drop/level out. less people after them the better for all real Camaro people. My cars are not for sale anyway. Hopefully my kids will be able to snag one in the furture... for cheap. Just my two cents Victor

I agree with the above. Yes, I am happy that my Camaros are worth a small fortune and could pay off my house for what they may sell for. But I hate the fact that I am scared to leave them alone in a parking lot for fear they will get stolen. The fact that I can't buy another project Camaro as even the horrible ones are astronomical. I hate the fraud and crookedness it has brought to this hobby. That I can't trust what a trim tag says. I hate that ebay has more RS Z/28 or COPO Camaros listed than were originally built. Heck, I can not afford to buy my own Camaros.

In 1987, I bought my first 69 Camaro for $90, and I drove it home. I spent $800 to redo the interior, fix up the motor, mag wheels and paint. It got me to college for two years. I parked it out on the street, many times, with the doors unlocked. I never worried it would be stolen. I sold it to a car dealer who approached me with $3,000, which was an absolute fortune in my opinion. I would pay 5 times that to have it back of course. My next several 69 Camaros were bought for $700 and $1,000, and were in solid decent shape. My 68 RS Convertible with solid perfect body and floors, was had for $1,600. You could go to the junk yard or swap meet and find every part you wanted. At swap meets you could find console gauges for $20, set of bucket seats for $40, and all the chrome trim pieces for .50 cents each. Those days are gone, and I do long for them. I would gladly give up the value of my Camaros to have those days back...but alas, like my youthful looks, and painfree body, are dust in the wind.

It was a very nice car, but it was a non-numbers big block with standard interior. I am amazed at this. At this price, this car is not going to make it in the hands of the average young kid. Heck, the average anyone can not afford this. This car will not be seen at the local car shows, or seen tearing up the streets around town. It is now going to be traded and sold like a commodity. This is one of the reasons our hobby will die. Like jet-setting, yachting or playing polo, only the very few chosen can afford it. 15 years ago, this Camaro would have sold for about $15K, and that would have been about right.

Between the rich scooping up all the cool Camaros, the fraudsters contributing to the problem, I guess it's easy to see why kids are into small foreign jobs. If the cool cars are no longer obtainable, then make the obtainable cars cool. That's what we did if you think about it. We could afford Porsches or Ferraris, so will built them out of the poor man's cruiser. I laugh at the stupid kid that puts a coffee can muffler on his SubaMitsuYotaSsan, but this is not unlike me fliipping my air cleaner lid upside down, or installing glass packs. Today's spoiler monstrosities are my generations rear airshocks turning my car into a sliding board when tapping the brakes.

So, I guess I should give the rice burner kidz a break. There stupid tricks are just them doing as I did when I was young.

Thanks for the depressing, but fun look at our hobby. I suppose as long as all of us here have breath, there will be muscle cars somewhere.

Not so much about the cars but we're getting older ! I ran my crew up 11 flights of stairs ,in full gear a few weeks ago for jokingly calling me an old man on a call--I led, in gear. I'm not so depressed ,they were sucking wind.

I see the cars dropping, some. Willis and Anglia's were through the roof a few years back and have stabled(adjusted) Supply and demand. I'm still only 47 , time will tell.

Well owning old cars in the future may be a who you know type thing (to get a deal), kinda like getting into the fire dept.... ( I couldn't beat out the chiefs son and a minority no matter how good my test scores were) sorry Jano had to throw that in there.

Seriously though, I am going to keep acquiring vehicles/projects, if my son gets into and then had a friend(s) who had a passion for it I wouldn't mind hooking them up with a deal on a project car, getting out the mig welder doing some patch panels with them, buy a gallon of bondo and get some elbow grease out and teach them the value and skill of doing your own body work. & then Shoot them in primer. Hell if they bought the paint I would paint them up for them as well. I can paint good enough for a teenagers daily driver. Time will tell

You know Bullitt, don't overlook Vocational training while having them take college prep courses. Everything is 2 year post HS anyway. He was involved in SKILLS competition, wonderful! For all trades, his was welding. Ended up going to Kansas city for Nationals ,placed 5th overall ,#1 TIG. Against every state including Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Prizes, scholarships--wonderful program. sort of off the tread ,sorry Red Gorilla !

Good point Jano, I will be thankful and glad if I am in your shoes when my son gets out of high school and knows the direction he is going in and has the drive to get there. I just have to harness all of his energy and keep him going in the right direction. If he really has a passion for welding or talent using his hands I will be his biggest fan. I just want to make sure I expose him to enough diverse subjects and activities that he ends up really finding himself along the way, and realizes what makes him tick. “do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” or rather: identify which skills he has that could be rare and valuable in the workplace – and then to hone those skills till he has career capital that he can spend in the way he chooses.

All started with a FFA project and "Grandpa" putting an electrode holder in his hand to start fabricating some rear shock mounts. Senior year was doing major chassis modifications on a street rod in school . Really quality craftsmanship ,caught a lot of people's eyes.

Its funny, My Dad was a computer programmer and my Mother was in biological science and somehow I still ended up as the "moron at the mechanic shop". My dad had the $10 Taiwan set of tools and worked on his VW and the lawn mower and I always thought he was a mechanic. From a very early age I was fascinated by tools and things with moving parts and my Dad's ability to fix them. We never had any muscle cars or anything nor did we attend any car shows when I was growing up and my Dad laughed and made fun of me when I sold my collection of VWs to buy a 79 Camaro (couldn't afford a running driving first gen in the early 90s). These cars were never shown or pushed on me, nor was working on them, they simply made an impression on me on their own. I don't think there is any question whether the kids today are going to like and want old Camaros, I think it'll be more a matter of practicality if the next generations are going to own them. I know every day on my way to work I pass a kid waiting fur the school bus, 9 or 10 years old, and when I drive my 68 his eyes are glued on me the entire time he can see me. However, when I'm driving my Subaru (factory winged car), I get only a partial look. I often wish I was more interested in computers or science because working on cars has very, very little to do with "turning wrenches", repairing or welding anything anymore. Those fun things are left more for the restoration shops, custom shops and hobbyists. I see so many young guys that don't make it past changing oil and tires because its simply not interesting. Teaching our kids how to bleed brakes, build big blocks and paint candy colors will NOT keep them from getting screwed at the at the auto shop unless their daily driver is 30+ years old. Sorry. Let them help you diagnose an intermittent Local Area Network problem on that new Camaro.

Voted today, but moving up a notch in May.Odd sorting format? 0-20 near middle of list Over 70 below that, under 70 above. Not hat it matters, just an observation. Also an overlap on the decades. Any age ending in 0 fits two clusters.